Raiders' backstage drama

Updated 11:24 pm, Sunday, September 23, 2012

The hit on Darrius Heyward-Bey that sent him to the hospital was the worst part of the Raiders' strange day.

The hit on Darrius Heyward-Bey that sent him to the hospital was the worst part of the Raiders' strange day.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

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Sebastian Janikowski is congratulated by head coach, Dennis Allen, right, after Janikowski kicked the game winning field goal as time expired. The Oakland Raiders played the Pittsburgh Steelers at O.co Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., on Sunday, September 23, 2012, and defeated the Steelers 34-31.

Sebastian Janikowski is congratulated by head coach, Dennis Allen, right, after Janikowski kicked the game winning field goal as time expired. The Oakland Raiders played the Pittsburgh Steelers at O.co Coliseum

There is never a shortage of contrived drama in the NFL, but sometimes the phony baloney gets upstaged by the real thing. Sunday's Steelers-Raiders game reeked of dramatic reality.

It started an hour before the kickoff, was woven into the game, and lasted well past the final gun and into the evening.

Before the game, Marcus Allen strolled the Raiders' sideline, preparing for his pregame duty of lighting the ceremonial flame that honors the late Al Davis.

Davis and Allen carried on one of football's great feuds, dating back to the team's Los Angeles days when the owner and running back had a falling-out that seemed to harden over time.

So it seemed a curious choice, Allen lighting the flame. Some might have seen it as disrespect to Davis. But the story goes deeper. When Davis died last year, one of the first phone calls of condolence to Al's wife, Carol, was from Allen, who always had a good relationship with Mrs. Davis.

Allen and Mark Davis have always been on good terms, too. Mark inherited ownership of the Raiders from Al, but the son did not inherit the father's grudges. Mark Davis apparently saw this as a chance to bring elements of the Raiders' family back together, and that's his style.

Meanwhile, Mark Davis was under pressure. He had answered the prayers and demands of Raider faithful by shaking up the house, hiring a head coach and a general manager. But with the 0-2 start, Davis the Younger was getting mail from fans wondering when he was going to fire his head coach and GM.

One problem with the rookie head coach, Dennis Allen, is that he's a rookie coach. And looks the part: youthful, with an absence of snarl. Had the Raiders started 2-0, fans would be saluting the new coach's cool, but at 0-2, not so much.

Dennis Allen's zone-blocking scheme was a bomb for two games and he preached patience, but fans' patience was thin.

On the Raiders' third play Sunday, Darren McFadden burst off the right side and sprinted 64 yards for a touchdown. See? Patience.

The previous Sunday at Miami, the Raiders faded badly in the second half, which makes a coach look bad, as if he got out-adjusted at halftime. This time, the Raiders trailed 17-14 at halftime, then gave up a quick touchdown to open the third quarter.

Would Dennis Allen give us the deer-in-headlights look, or would he think of something?

He thought of several things. The no-huddle offense, for one, because Pittsburgh has a super-sized defensive line, and the Raiders' O-line is quick and athletic and fit. It worked, the Raiders winning the fourth quarter 13-0.

Afterward, the coach took zero credit, which is his style. He is not Rex Ryan, or even Hue Jackson. Allen deflected all credit.

"I know that (the first win) means a lot to him," nose tackle Tommy Kelly said. "How couldn't it? He's going to wait until he gets home and he'll let his hair down a little bit."

The Raiders lost two wide receivers in the second half. Rod Streater got poked in the eye, and Darrius Heyward-Bey was knocked cold by a helmet shot from safety Ryan Mundy. Heyward-Bey, after long minutes during which a team of medical personnel attended to him in the end zone, was gently lifted onto a cart and wheeled off the field, lifting one arm to give a dramatic thumbs-up.

"As soon as he went down, we knew something was wrong," said Derek Hagan, who would take Heyward-Bey's place when play resumed. "Normally when DHB gets hit, he gets right up. He's a guy who likes to have a lot of fun, he's always laughing, he doesn't mind getting hit. When you see him get hit and pretty much not moving, you know something's wrong."

Hagan, a journeyman cut by the Raiders after the 2011 preseason, responded nicely, catching three balls for 30 yards, including a 17-yarder that put the Raiders in position for the game-winning field goal.

The drama didn't stop when the game ended. Hagan said he planned to visit his pal DHB wherever he was (Heyward-Bey spent the night in the hospital). Dennis Allen went home and did whatever hair-letting-down he allows himself.

And no doubt Mark Davis and Marcus Allen savored the victory together somewhere, two non-drinkers sharing the end of a dramatic day when old grudges were buried and a new era showed signs of coming to life.

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